56.6 mi / 12.8 mph / 81 ft. climbing
Home: Manatee Springs State Park

It was a little a bit cooler this morning at 6:30am that yesterday’s 57℉, but warm enough that changing into shorts for the day late in the pack-up process wasn’t excessively uncomfortable. Worse was that the clear still skies and 100% humidity left everything super-wet. Yesterday’s added rest day served us well though, and although my nose had now started running like Rett’s, our energy felt fine to tackle our longest ride in nearly three months.

Our previous two rides had been mainly on empty country roads and bike trails, respectively, and I had tried to absorb that ease and peace because I knew that nearly 50 miles of today’s ride would be on the shoulder of US-98/FL-19, a four-lane divided highway that is the only road through much of the area. StreetView showed the shoulder to be reasonably wide, and I didn’t see much traffic, but the fact that the bicycle heat maps showed almost no activity told me that there must be some reason for cyclists to avoid this route.

But no, I guess there simply aren’t any cyclists living in this suddenly super-unpopulated area to light up the heat maps. Because the road ended up being nearly ideal, and a really efficient way to eat up the miles. The shoulder was comfortably wide, and traffic was so light that 90% of vehicles moved fully into the left lane when they passed us. It’s still a bit of a mystery why touring cyclists don’t light up the heat maps though, since again, it’s really the only option if heading up the west coast of Florida to the panhandle.

The “no services” sign lied a little bit, because Hershel’s Quick Stop (which even had a gas pump, but probably no gas) appeared halfway through the emptiness at the crossroads of Otter Creek (placenames are usually fairly meaningless, but we actually saw a (sadly) dead otter on the roadside just a few miles outside of Otter Creek, the first time we’ve ever seen an otter, dead or alive, not in a body of water). Hershel’s was a true country store, reminding me of the small-town general stores of New Zealand; it had a table inside and a couple more out front (where we ate our lunch), a small kitchen behind the counter, advertising fried bologna sandwiches. Very few sections of the United States coast roads are so unpopulated that at least a major gas station chain doesn’t step in as a the retail center, but this is one of those sections! It certainly felt much further than 3.5 days of bike riding from the international tourist destination of Orlando.

In Chiefland we were able to hop on a bike trail for a mile or so, but then shot off west for five miles to Manatee Springs State Park. Surprisingly a buffered bike lane ran all the way down the country road to the park.

Our “walk-in” campsite was another excellent Florida State Park place to pitch a tent. I’d sent Rett ahead while I checked in, and was surprised to find her standing amidst the undergrowth bordering our site, and not already in the shower. But she was excited to have finally spotted a (live!) armadillo rummaging around (perhaps Mother Nature making up for the earlier dead otter?) We’ve certainly seen loads of dead armadillos on the road, and have heard them noisily foraging around previous campsites, but finally we’re able to add this strange beast to our always-expanding list of “captured” animals.